Doug Kalitta and the Mac Tools Top Fuel dragster raced to the final round of the 21^st NHRA Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals grabbing a runner-up finish and jumping up to fourth place in the Camping World Top Fuel point standings. Throughout the weekend Kalitta and the Mac Tools team were at the top of their game. During qualifying they posted some of the quickest times grabbing three qualifying bonus points for running the third quickest run of the second session and the second quickest run during the final qualifying session.

As the No. 3 qualifier Kalitta squared off with teammate Shawn Langdon, Troy Buff and Rob Passey in the first round.  The round win was never in jeopardy as he was first off the starting line and first to the finish line with a 3.751 second run.

The next quad featured Kalitta facing Steve Torrence and Leah Pruett along with Langdon. At the finish line it was Kalitta crossing beside Torrence to advance to the final quad. The Mac Tools team kept it consistent and quick with a 3.768 second run.

In the final quad Kalitta, who is celebrating 20 years with primary sponsor Mac Tools, was looking for his first Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals win and first win of the 2021 season. As the starting line Christmas Tree fired the Mac Tools dragster launched hard and was racing to the finish line when it began mixing up cylinders. Kalitta was able to keep it in the groove but he lost power and speed opening the door for Torrence to drive around him for the win.

“A 3.82 won the race out there today and we were running much better than that,” said Kalitta. “It looked like we were ahead, but we dropped a cylinder and threw the rods out before the finish line. We didn’t quite make it to the finish line. We were really hoping to get the win today.  We gave it our best. I’m really proud of my guys and the TRD guys did a great job with lane choice. I don’t know why we dropped the cylinder. We’ve been tearing up some parts and that’s got to end pretty quickly and we’ll just keep at it.”

Kalitta and the Mac Tools team will head to Atlanta No. 4 in the Top Fuel point standings.

Quotable: 
Doug Kalitta on Vegas Four-Wide Nationals: “There is a lot going on up on the starting line but you just have to do your regular routine. Our Mac Tools dragster was strong all weekend. I am looking forward to getting back on track in Atlanta in a couple weeks.”

Statistics:
Qualified: No. 3 (3.743 sec., 314.83 mph)
Bonus points: +3 (3^rd quickest of Q2 and 2^nd quickest of Q3)

Race Details: 

First Round
Driver                                    Qual       R/T         ET           MPH
Doug Kalitta                          3              .062        3.751     314.39 (W)         
Shawn Langdon                      6              .082        3.756     320.89 (W)
Troy Buff                                 11           .134        3.839     284.99
Rob Passey                             14           .301        5.236     131.29

Second Quad
Driver                                    Qual       R/T         ET           MPH
Steve Torrence                      2              .051        3.773     322.04 (W)
Doug Kalitta                         3              .058        3.768     325.22 (W)         
Shawn Langdon                    6              .056        8.558     88.61
Leah Pruett                            7              .111        10.921   55.03

Final Quad
Driver                                    Qual       R/T         ET           MPH
Steve Torrence                      2              .042        3.823     321.73 (W)
Doug Kalitta                         3              .059        3.866     270.75 (R/U)
Clay Millican                           4              .070        3.914     290.88
Antron Brown                          8              .041        4.728     157.83